Book Review: Dangerous Lies We Tell to Children and Ourselves

Since this week I talked about parent interaction I wanted to include a review of a book that involved parents. 

I think my parents did a pretty amazing job, and I can really only remember one big lie they told me. I was a HUGE cry baby when I was younger. Skinned knees: I’d cry. Hurt feelings: I’d really cry. Broken toy: sobbing. Lost toy: mental breakdown. One day I went running to my mom in the backyard over some trivial ailment tears streaming down my face and she said, “Carissa, God only gives you so many tears, and if you waste them all now when I die you won’t be able to cry at my funeral.” It worked. I could almost feel the tears get sucked back into my tear ducts.

Did that lie affect me growing up? Maybe, but I don’t think so. I still cried when I was sad (or very happy). I still cry like a baby during those animal abuse commercials. It didn’t emotionally stunt me. It was just something she said to get me to reevaluate my personal preference towards constantly crying over everything. I don’t think my parents ever told me any dangerous lies, but maybe yours did?

Title: Dangerous Lies We Tell to Children and Ourselves Author: Deborah Dian  

Pages: 77 Price: $.99

Who would buy it? I think this book is directed at parents more than teachers, but as the author was an educator and teachers are often like parents I picked it up. That was a mistake. I don’t see much use for this book for a teacher, unless they have told one of the four lies mentioned below.

What does it do?  

The book covers nine lies that parents tell children, then four lies that teachers tell their students and finally six lies that parents tell themselves. The books rounds off with an epilogue and sources.

Essentially the book starts by stating that while adults are used to exaggeration and white lies children tend to accept everything at face value. This means that when a child is lied to they become hurt, frustrated, and less believing that everything is truthful.

The nine lies from parents are ones that I have difficulty relating to because my parents never said them. An example is, “You’re too young to know what that word means,” and “Don’t worry about money everything is fine.” Each lie goes through examples of when parents tell the lie, why they tell the lie, why the lie is so dangerous and what alternatives there are (e.g. how to tell the truth). 

Next we are given a look at some lies that teachers tell students. These are: “school is a safe place”; “only an idiot would vote for that guy”; “every student should take college prep classes”; and “a degree is the only way to be successful.” I can honestly say I’ve never told those lies, nor have I ever had a teacher tell them to me. I did have a very liberal government teacher in high school who dressed in black when someone was given the death penalty and often told us how amazing Michael Moore was, but she never told us she disliked George Bush.  If you have said something similar to those four lies, then you may like to get this book and check out some of the alternatives.

It ends with the six dangerous lies parents tell themselves. I have a splendid cat, but no children, so I basically skimmed this section. One example is, “”My teens are too young to be given adult information about sex”

Is it any good? 

Mostly I was not a fan of the book. Though, at one point, she pointed out the misguided results of teachers always telling students they can do anything. Yes, bolstering a student’s self-esteem is good, but platitudes such as, “work hard and you can be whatever you want,” are often just that…empty platitudes. Students then become embarrassed or feel inadequate when they are working a minimum wage out of high school. They were told they would have greatness…where is that?

In Fight Club, Chuck Palahniuk wrote “We've all been raised on television to believe that one day we'd all be millionaires, and movie gods, and rock stars. But we won't. And we're slowly learning that fact. And we're very, very pissed off." I think this was a similar observation on her part.

Otherwise, I think I expected to relate more with this book, and when I couldn’t. I was disappointed. However, if you can remember being lied to as a child, or if any of the lies mentioned above that teachers tell have been things you’ve said then I think you would enjoy this book much more than I did,

Maintaining Contact with Parents

For the life of me I can't remember where I heard this story. It could have been from a colleague, a friend, a teacher, or a blog. Essentially the story goes:

A parent came in to complain about her child's grades and how the school needed to be doing more.  The employee looked at her and said, "Name three of your child's teachers." The parent paused nodded her head and said, "I see your point, have a nice day."

The moral of the story is that parents tend to only get involved when things go bad, when they would be more useful getting involved from the start!

On the first day of class we do several things. I have a PowerPoint where I go over class expectations and rules. Then they fill out a gap fill restating the rules. The final part is to take the paper home to their parents. The bottom of the paper is a short letter (in Spanish) to the parents. It explains that they can access engrade, or twitter to get a hold of me in addition to my e-mail. I also offer to speak with them in Spanish if they don't feel comfortable in English.

This way, right away I have opened up the channels of communication. Not all parents choose to contact me, but I know that I gave them the option to get involved from day one.

This year when I sent out the letter I received an e-mail that very night from a mother sent from her iPhone. It was written in Spanish, but the loosely translated it said, "Hello. It is very nice on your part to introduce yourself, and it is very nice to meet you. I am the mother of (student). This is the first time that a teacher has shown this kindness. I wish you the best."


I know it is silly, but notes like that really make me feel like I am on the right track.

There are some more suggestions here. How do you make sure that your parents stay up to date with your class?

How NOT to teach minimal pairs

There's a bad moon
or there's a bathroom?

 I am still on a pronunciation kick from the most recent blog carnival! I am also thinking about the ELT Research Carnival where I wrote about the importance of bottom up skills in listening. This post mixes those two ideas with minimal pairs.

Minimal pairs can a fun way to test a students pronunciation or listening skills.

A common activity is to give students a worksheet and have them circle the word that they hear.

For example, "I really love to eat ( bears / pears )."

Do you see the problem with this?

It doesn't really require any listening skills. Most (normal) people would answer pears. They know that contextually eating bears is not something that happens, or at least not where I live in Mexico or where I grew up in San Diego.

Compare this to the Credence Clearwater song, "There's a bad moon on the rise." Many people hear, "There's a bathroom on the right." Both sentences make sense! That's why it can be tricky.

The other thing some teachers overlook is the types of minimal pairs. My Mexican students have no problem pronouncing (or hearing) the difference between l and r. Giving them activities using words like lice and rice wouldn't help them.

Of course, if you have a mixed class you can include activities which focus on all students needs, but if you are teaching a class with speakers of similar backgrounds be sure to pick sounds they will struggle with.


If you aren't sure what your students need to practice, that's OK. This is when I highly suggest picking up a copy of Swan's Learner English. A book I found beyond valuable when I first started teaching, and I still reference when I am exposed to speakers whose languages I don't know.

On TPT I put a free worksheet that I made for my TOEFL students. It focuses on the sounds that my Mexican students needed to practice. There are three activities:

1. Two stories use minimal pairs that are interchangeable in the sentences. This can be read to the class with students selecting what they hear (as a purely listening exercise) or with students in pairs taking turns. One student would read the first story making sure to carefully enunciate, and the partner would try to guess what they were saying. Then they would switch for the second story. 
2. There's also a BINGO board for some fun practice. 
3. Finally there's a writing activity where students make their own. After they can read it to the class and have students try to guess what they said. 

I've talked about other ways to practice minimal pairs like jokes, and comics and I still standby those as great techniques. Just make sure to keep the few tips this blog talked about.

What about you? What do you think teachers should keep in mind when working on minimal pairs (or any pronunciation) with students?

Book review: Sow or Sow (History & Pronunciation of different ow words)

 In honor of the pronunciation theme that the most recent ELT blog carnival contained, this is a book that may help some people master English pronunciation just a little more. I know that some teachers who teach pronunciation label words with colors. This book reminds me of that method mixed in with etymology.

Title: Sow or Sow: A guide to the origins of English words spelled with ow   
Author: R.E. Skibiski    Pages: 56 Price: $2.99

Who should buy it? The book has a small text at the end which quite aptly summarizes why someone may want to buy it. If any of this applies to you then you may want to consider buying it. “To some people, how words change is interesting: to other people, how words change isn’t interesting at all. As for the former this guide might make them say WOW! As for the latter, well, this guide might make them say OW!...This guide … can be used for many purposes from improving your pronunciation to improving your vocabulary, … from English as a second language students who are frustrated by English spelling to native speakers who have never paid close attention to these words before. It can also be a starting point for learning more about the history of the English language in general.”

What’s it do?  This book is essentially a limited dictionary with more cohesion. It divides all ow words into two groups yellow (oʊ) and brown (aʊ).
It starts by explaining how the book works, explaining a bit of the history of English and explaining Old English pronunciation.
At this point it begins to list the yellow words from arrow to yellow. Each word has a brief definition, a number (the group it falls into) and the word’s original origin and spelling (if known). After the words it explains those groups we saw by each word earlier. These ten different groups give a bit of background as to how the word has changed over time (if known).
Now that the yellow words are down it switches into the brown words from alloy to yowl. Exactly like with the yellow words each words has a definition, group and origin. Once we see the end with yowl we see the brown words ten groups.
After the words we go onto special notes! These include uncommon words that may be linguistically cool but not of much use to an EFL student (so they can make note to not bring those out in their next pick up line), notes on past participles, a bunch of cool words (for example what makes owe so special? If you’re interested then this book is for you!) borrowed words, Old English infinitives.
To finish us off what would a book on English pronunciation be without exceptions? Luckily the exceptions are few:  Co-worker and knowledge for example.

Is it any good?  As I stated before, I am a word nerd. That being said I am not sure I would want to read this. I skimmed it and mostly enjoyed it, but I feel like actually reading it would be similar to reading a dictionary…not very exciting. This would be useful to have access to in a bathroom or on a coffee table so you could look up random words when you had spare time. I could also see it fitting into a class library or office bookshelf quite nicely. If a student finished their work early they could do a quick write up on a new word they found and where it came from originally. Plus the author is a fellow ELT who gives away free material on his site http://tordwifelbooks.com/eslefl/esleflsummary.html

What do you think? Does this sound like anything you'd buy or is it too dry for your taste?

Free Kindle Reading

I’ve decided I am going to try and get in the habit of reviewing a kindle read at least once a week.

To start I should admit that I am a free reading junkie.

Kindles start at around $60

I have always been a voracious reader, but about a year ago I cancelled my home internet service. This meant no more blogging, Facebook or Engrade while I was at home.

My choices were: grading papers, playing with my cat, cooking/eating, or watching TV. Sometimes I would try to do something for my appearance (deep conditioner, pore strips, DIY face masks, push-ups) but the truth was in my hot apartment those things weren’t much fun.

I love my Galaxy!

Then my school offered teachers the chance to have a tablet. Always down for trying to be more tech savvy I signed up and become the proud user of a new Android Tablet. One of the first apps I downloaded was the kindle app.
 

Now when I am at home I spend my time reading all of the great freebies I find online and here’s how:

1.       If you don’t own a kindle you can still read kindle books. 

• They have apps you can get for free for your phone or tablet.
• You can also read it online just using a web browser.

2.       There’s a website I visit almost daily called, http://www.freebooksifter.com/ The title pretty much says it all It sifts through amazon and links you to the free books.

• I normally go to, “added today” and then whatever category I want
• I normally check, “Education” for obvious reasons and “Business” to see if I can use any excerpts for my Business English class.

3.       Amazon tracks its bestselling Kindle books AND separates the paid from the free

• Check out the Kindle Free BestSellers
• Again, I normally check out education,

4.       When it doubt, buy it

• Books usually are only free for a limited amount of time, but if you buy them when they are free and later their prices rise you still keep it for free. So, “buy now; read later” is often the best policy.

5.       REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW

• You are paying NOTHING for these books. They are free! At least have the decency to leave an honest review so others know how you felt.
• NOTE: I try not to leave bad reviews just because sometimes, “wasn’t my style.” Before you leave a review think, “Is this something I would have bought based on the information made available to me? Or did I just grab it because it was free?” If you just grabbed it because it was free then don’t leave a review. If the book actually disappointed you because it was not about what you thought it was about, contained inappropriate (vulgar, spammy) information, or was poorly written then feel free to leave a review to let others know.

So there we go, that’s how I am able to give you all of the reviews that are to come, because most of these books were obtained via the magic of the World Wide Web.

Why I tell my students to go abroad

This post is for the RTT Teach Abroad Blog Carnival (yes I admit it, I am being a blog carnival junkie).

I just had a student approach me and ask if I thought she should take a break from school for the chance to au-pair in England. I immediately (choking on my coffee it was so fast) said yes. She laughed and asked how I could say that when she knew I was considering going home.

I have been, for the last 10 years of my life, living abroad more than at home. Living in Mexico for the last 2 years has been the longest I've been in one place for a while.
Why would I possibly give up my lifestyle of jumping from place to place?

1. I was talking to a friend the other day who mentioned, "getting out of" a family event. Without thinking I responded, "why would you want to do that?" First off, my family is pretty awesome. More importantly, being abroad has strengthened the ties I have with them because we have really had to work to keep in contact. I don't take them for granted, and I know just how important every minute I have with them is.

2. I have made truly amazing friends in the past ten years each of them being from different countries, speaking different languages and teaching me different things. I love doing what I do because of the way I get to interact with so many people. However, I don't like the revolving door of friends. I hate the friends who become like family only to suddenly have them living on the other side of the planet. Yes, I'll always have Facebook and skype, but it isn't the same. So, while living abroad has made me more adaptable I'd like to have a life where I don't say goodbye every two years.

3. In the same way, I feel that I really know who my friends are back in California. They are the ones who always make an effort to get in touch with me when I am in town. The ones who deal with my irregular Skype dates. The ones who whenever I do get a chance to see them it feels like we never skipped a beat, and I want to go back to that with them.

4. I have experiences what it is like to be in a country where I speak none of the language and have to learn from point A. I have shown up in a public place armed only with the words: green, blue, yellow, red, left, right, hand, foot and a twister mat with the intent of making friends.  I have lost my fear of ordering in restaurants. I have become amazing at charades and taboos. Basically, I know what it feels like to learn a language when you started from nothing, and I have the confidence to tell my students, "If I can do it you can too."

5. I have grown so much in the last 10 years as a teacher. I went from someone who knew some games and how to get a student's attention to a teacher who knows millions of games (and why they work) in addition to the best ways to keep every student's attention. Am I perfect? No! I am far from it, and I'd like to go back to San Diego and complete a credential program in Education so that in addition to the Masters from Spain, CELTA from The Netherlands and other random certifications via webinars I learn more and become an even more capable teacher.

So why am I considering giving up a nomads life to return home? Because living abroad has given me so much, I am not sure I can take anymore :)


In short, I tell my students to study abroad because they will become adaptable. They will be able to see things in a different light. They will make friends they will treasure forever and most importantly they will grow.

I am pretty sure that this student will enjoy her time abroad. I know I do!

ELT Blog Carnival - Pronunciation

I am so happy with the turnout of the 34th ELT Blog Carnival! As a teacher I feel horribly ill trained to answer questions about teaching pronunciation in the classroom. Sure, I have a few ideas about using jokes for minimal pairs, but that's about it. I've done my fair share of Googling, but I have always felt that teaching pronunciation was my weakest area. After talking to other teachers, I discovered that many shared my feelings. Hence, when I volunteered to host this month's ELT blog carnival I was eager to get teachers everywhere to pitch in and help out with this tricky subject. Below you'll find an array of blogs on the topic of pronunciation. I hope that they help you feel more confident, as they have helped me grow as a teacher. 

That's enough chatting from me, let's get to what you came here to see! 18 blogs talking about pronunciation. That's like the whole 9 yards...twice!

To get to the relevant blog posts you can either click on the picture, or the relevant hyperlink in the summary. Enjoy!

Lessons/Activities

These posts cover lesson ideas, or activities that you can use with your students! Be sure to add your own adjustments to the activities or just your general thoughts in their comments.

ESL hip-hop is a blog by Stephen Mayeux. He teaches English as a Second Language at UC Davis Extension and, like many of us, he enjoys music in the classroom, specifically hip hop. A lot of his blogs cover how to use hip hop when teaching pronunciation via a specific hip hop song. Sound discrimination with krs one is a specific lesson which covers a sample activity that shows how to teach sound discrimination (in this case /f/ vs /v/).

Beth Crumpler is a teacher with well over 10 years of experience adapting materials to best fit her students. Her blog post is about a presentation she gave which talked about taking the metaphor of a teacher as a conductor literally. Using a mix of music and teaching techniques she advises teachers on different ways they too can teach pronunciation using music.  If you want to develop your skills to become a master conductor, check it out!  

Nik Peachey's submission is an older blog post that was actually suggested by a teacher on LinkedIn. I tracked down Nik, who was glad that it was still useful, and happily contributed to the carnival. Nik has been in the ELT world for 20 years and is known for integrating technology into his lessons.  This post discusses using poetry and technology to help students practice pronunciation. Read more here.

  English central also submitted an older blog filled with  Pronunciation Tips. The blog includes a video with Janet Goodwin from UCLA who talks about different techniques she uses in her pronunciation classes. She covers things like reductions, modeling, etc. In specific, the post discusses how students were given their own minute to "own" and transcribe. Students were given additional activities using that minute of authentic English including recording it themselves. For more details you can view the blog here.

Danielle is a language teacher who has just started up her own blog! Before that she was so eager to participate in the carnival that she wrote a guest blog! Through the last 19 years she has taught a variety of levels including children, adolescents and adults from different countries: Mauritius, Maldives, India, France, Latvia, Russia, Italy and South Africa. She is currently an online tutor who has experience with children as well as adults. This means if you want the fun of an child's lesson with the practicality of an adult's lesson, then you should check out her post with a fun activity to help adult students practice the two different sounds th makes found here.

Vicki Hollet knows that many learners will comment on British vs American pronunciation. Here's a blog with an easy video to show your students just some of the differences. If you wait until the end (or read the description in YouTube) there's also an invitation to a free webinar on the topic. The blog also includes a free transcript for you so you can make your own worksheets to use with your learners looking to master one of the accents. If this seems like something you are interested in you can read more here.

Marsha Chan is currently at Mission College in California (as a California native, I approve). Her blog discusses getting students to practice vowel length with the use of a rubber band. I admit that I've heard about  using a rubber band to help with pronunciation , but I've never seen it before. Marsha's blog is easy to follow and includes three videos (and a link to others!) as well as an explanation of why and how to use these simple tools. You can see for yourself at her blog. 

Carissa Peck (yes that's me) is currently teaching at ITESM in Mexico and loves to laugh! This post is simply a collection of jokes which use elision. Teachers can use these jokes as examples when breaching the topic of connected speech with their students. This makes the rather intimidating topic seem more lighthearted and less droll. If you love to laugh, then your students probably do too! Click this link to go directly to the blog and get your daily dose of chuckles.

Thoughts

I hope that reading these blogs will give you insights that can help you feel more prepared to teach the topic of pronunciation. I invite you to share your own views by commenting on them and letting the author know what you think! 

Hugh Dellar has been teaching for 20 years! In addition to teaching he has co-written two textbooks. He wrote an interesting blog post on how pronunciation classes aren't really about teaching students proper pronunciation, rather those classes are about helping students learn to be better listeners.He discusses the physical aspects of pronunciation (how it is in essence a motor exercise) and says that it is OK if students don't show marked improvement immediately because really during pronunciation lessons we are practicing how to listen. For the whole article click here.  

Saundz (an accent reduction app) hosted this blog about The Long and Short Vowels of English by Jennifer Collins. This starts off by giving some examples that students struggle with in class. It continues to make the word geek in me happy by giving the history of the vowels and why some are long and some are short (it even touches on why we call them "long" and "short" vowels). Finally it gives a list of things to keep in mind when teaching these tricky vowels with students. Check it out here.

If you are new to teaching pronunciation Peggy has a blog post that really breaks down the steps you can choose to use when teaching while comparing the process to cooking! Peggy has taught ESL and EFL in the U.S., Turkey, Italy, Switzerland, and Mexico and now is primarily an accent coach. She starts by setting up a clear foundation for learners (with links and activities they can practice on their own), using the element of surprise, and practicing practicing practicing. To read more about her set up check out how to Teach Pronunciation Effectively, Efficiently, Confidently.

Connected speech is one of my favorite aspects of teaching pronunciation. Rachael (who has been teaching English for over 20 years) wrote this amazing blog which is a great resource! It goes over the different types of connected speech as well as the different ways to teach them (including helpful tips). This is really a must read for anyone wondering how to implement pronunciation practice into the classroom or teachers unaware of connected speech. If that sounds like you, check out helping students with connected speech

Resources

The Internet can be a big and scary place. Luckily we don't have to explore it alone. These blogs all focus on helping teachers find the best sites to use as resources when teaching pronunciation. If you love their list, be sure to leave them a comment telling them! 

 

No ELT Blog Carnival would be complete without an entry from Larry Ferlazzo! This is an "oldie but goodie" from 2008 and lists his TOP TEN resources for teaching pronunciation to Beginning and Early Intermediate English Language Learners.  Even though it is a top ten list, it also includes suggestions from other people making the list closer to twenty than ten. Check out some of the suggestions here.

Bárbara P. García Roberti has been teaching since the early 1990s! She's a big fan of sharing resources and has this great post filled with 10 different sites she has used with great success for teaching pronunciation. The list includes interactive IPA charts, Pronunciation Podcasts, Minimal Pair Practice and more! You too can check out these ten great sites, just click here.

David Deubelbeiss is a name that you are probably familiar with if you have spent any time looking into Web 2.0 and English. He comes to us with another blog post that is a golden oldie on pronunciation resources. Unlike the other lists of multiple sites he focuses on just one. His post goes over a great pronunciation resource in great deal including how to get to it, how to use it, and why it rocks. If you are looking to be amazing at the wonders of the Internet check out this post here. 

Eva Buyuksimkesyan hosted the last blog carnival about music. This time around she didn't have time to write anything current, but she managed to pull a great older post from her past. This post briefly talks about different activities you could do in class and then gives some amazing links. Make sure to read the comments when you read it here too! 

Claudie's blog tracks her time through a pronunciation course she took. She includes links to sites she found interesting and helpful.  She wrote a special blog for this carnival on the five quirkiest pronunciation resources she's every come across. Interested in what she chose? You can read all five here.

Annie Ruden is a licensed and certified Speech Language Pathologist who currently specializes in accent reduction. Her blog post discusses her opinion that EFL teachers (and learners) could really benefit from the wisdom speech pathologists have to offer. One of her suggestions is that teachers use online curriculum developed by speech pathologists to supplement their own teaching. If this interests you read her blog!

So there we go, an easy list of 18 different blogs to help you become a pro at pronunciation classes!

If you participated, thank you SO much for being a part of this carnival. Now's the fun part. You can share the link. You can comment on the blogs. Best of all, you can be inspired by different teachers and adapt ideas to best fit your students. Be sure to keep your eyes on the ELT Blog Carnival's home page so you can participate in the next one.